RESURRECTED!!
Just picked this game up. I've been playing it in Japanese for the last little while, so it's nice to finally play it in English.
Regarding the language, it's not dubbed. The subtitles were translated and the locations, blade names etc. were all translated to English, but the voice work is all Japanese, so be aware of that before you purchase. I don't find it a huge deal, in fact I really enjoy it! That's probably because I'm an anime fan, but other people may not enjoy it as much as I do.
The gameplay is nice and tight. It doesn't feel sloppy or rushed at all. Combos are easy enough to string together and the fights are spaced far enough apart so as they don't get tiresome. However, sometimes you have to backtrack extensively and going through areas where there is NOTHING to do except stare at the scenery is a bit boring.
Speaking of scenery, the game is gorgeous. It's like a moving painting. It truly is a beautiful thing to behold. Lush, vibrant foregrounds and subtle touches in the background breathe life into the game. The multi-celled backgrounds move as to give the game's world real depth of movement. Just stunning.
There's some RPG elements in there, too. A leveling system that makes sure you get progressively stronger as you go, as well as the blades. From the pause menu, you can go to the forge to meet the ethereal blacksmith Muramasa, and as long as you have enough souls and spirit, as well as other swords, you can forge new blades with new exotic techniques. You can do this at any time during the game which is cool, too. That way if you're stuck on a particular boss you can see if you can forge a new blade to help you out. It's a nice touch. The blades are built around a skill tree like in WoW or other RPGs, so make sure you really wanna forge something before you hit the button, 'cause there are no take backs.
The story is pretty OK, but kind of plods along, almost dragged kicking and screaming. The story is told by in-game cutscenes after boss battles or other momentous events. Basically they tell you where you should go next and how you should get there. You don't HAVE to do what they say though, and I often don't, preferring to explore the land a bit and earn more experience points and souls to forge into new blades.
There are over 100 blades to forge, some of which won't be able to be forged until your second full playthrough. That is, after you've beaten the game with both characters. It seems like an artificial game lengthening mechanic, but both characters have very different stories, back-stories, and routes to take.
I've been playing through Momohime's story first. After that I'll try out Kisuke's story and see what that's like. From what I've been reading each story line is about 6 hours if you plow through, and about 12 if you take your time, backtrack to challenge areas and what not and try to get all the swords you can.
For the numbers people, it's scoring just about
80% on Metacritic, so if you like to see a number before you pay up, check some of those out.
This was a day one purchase for me, and I'm glad of that. Honestly, you owe it to yourself to at the very least rent this game. You'll pro'lly be glad you did.
